Most industrialized countries have been grappling with large budget deficits since the start of the financial crisis in 2008. Among the solutions often put forward is increasing the tax burden of the "rich." In the United States, following an opinion piece written by billionaire Warren Buffett, President Barack Obama suggested to Congress that it should raise taxes on the rich. This is also the case in France, which just enacted a "temporary" surtax of 3% on incomes over 250,000 euros and of 4% on incomes over 500,000 euros.

For the past fifteen years, increases in health care spending have outpaced the growth of the Canadian economy. As a result, this spending takes up an increasing share of government budgets. The share of provincial and territorial program spending taken up by health care expenditures reached 37.7% in 2010. Not all sources of increased spending should be viewed as problems, of course. New medical technologies, for instance, even if sometimes quite expensive, can provide valuable services, and perhaps reduce other costs.

"If you want a job done right, hire a capitalist," is written on the back of George Lengvari Sr.'s business card. The Hungarian immigrant to Canada learned life's lessons first as a student, then as a banker, soldier and prisoner of war. After the Second World War, he had to start over as a refugee, translator, gardener and beekeeper.

Unionization and collective bargaining in the public sector are relatively recent phenomena, essentially dating back to the second half of the 20th century. In Canada, only 12% of public-sector employees were unionized in 1960, compared to 70% today. In the United States, during the same period, the public-sector unionization rate went from 11% to 36%. In Quebec, the right to collective bargaining was granted to public-sector employees in 1944 (the right to strike came later, in 1964) and to civil servants in 1965. Among U.S. states, it is Wisconsin that was the first to grant collective bargaining rights to certain public-sector employees in 1959. Today, some thirty U.S. states allow collective bargaining with public-sector unions.

Union organizations are private organizations, but their financing relies on an indirect power to tax known as the Rand formula. They also enjoy various tax breaks, like a tax credit for union dues, a tax exemption for strike pay as well as tax credits for contributions to labour-sponsored funds. Despite these quasi-public financing prerogatives, Quebec union organizations generally do not exhibit financial transparency and have very few obligations in this regard.

Up until now, Quebec's hydroelectric production has mostly been associated with very large scale projects like the James Bay and Manicouagan dams. At the other extreme, the Quebec government has left the operation of small installations, 50 megawatts (MW) or less, to the private sector, which is experiencing increasing success at that level. However, an important portion of Quebec's hydroelectric potential remains unexploited: that of medium scale projects.

The promotional activities of pharmaceutical companies are regularly the target of criticism. Certain commentators imply that these businesses as a group devote too many resources to the promotion of their products, at the expense of their investments in research and development (R&D). Others maintain that these promotional activities alter the prescribing habits of doctors, which leads to a needless or even harmful rise in the consumption of drugs. Do these criticisms stand up to scrutiny?

It is universally acknowledged that a quality education system has a profound influence on economic prosperity. In the long run, only a trained and productive population can improve its quality of life in a sustained manner. It is after all in order to promote access to education that the Quebec Department of Education was established in 1964. Today, this Department has an annual budget of $15.5 billion, the equivalent of 25% of Quebec government program spending.

This Economic Note is the second in a series on the growing tendency of governments around the world to regulate the advertising industry more and more strictly. Whether in the name of consumer protection or health concerns, decision makers prefer to attack advertising for products deemed harmful rather than prohibiting them directly.

The deal adopted by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Obama on August 2, 2011 will see the federal debt ceiling in the United States raised by at least $2.1 trillion from its current limit of $14.3 trillion. The agreement has been criticized by a number of commentators, who believe that it represents a “capitulation” to “extremists” who insist on balancing the budget without raising the fiscal burden. Yet an analysis of the agreement shows that even if all the cuts contained in it were indeed enacted, they would not prevent the U.S. federal debt from continuing to grow.